When streaming a software title a client is led to believe that some or all of the files associated with the streaming software title are locally available. The files actually may or may not reside on the local system. Techniques are used to trick the client into believing that all of the files are available. A description of streaming software is provided with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,334 filed on Jun. 16, 1998, which is incorporated herein by reference.
A client, believing that a file associated with a streaming title is available, may attempt to open the file. A file may be opened for read-only access, write-only access, or read/write access. In the case of read-only access, the file can be accessed according to streaming protocols. In the case of a write-only access, the file can be created locally. In the case of a read/write access, the file is downloaded, and then modified locally.
It may be desirable to use read/write access to open a file, but not download the entire file.